Method of refrigerating cars and car for performing said method



Oct. so, 1928. 1,689,638

R. B. MUSSER METHOD OF REFRIGERATING CARS AND CAR FOR PERFORMING SAID METHOD lNVENTOR Q fiofiew Erma Mussel BY ATTORNEY Oct. 30, 1928.

R. B. MUSSER METHOD OF REFRIGERATING CARS AND CAR FOR PERFORMING SAID METHOD Filed May 19, 1924 2 ShoetrSheet INVENTOR Robe/i fizz ca M07361 ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 30, 1928.

NITED STATES 1,689,638 PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT BRUCE MUSSER, F SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

METHOD OF REFRIGERATING CARS AND CAR FOR PERFORMING SAID METHOD.

Application filed May 19,

My invention relates to the art of refrigerating cars. More particularly, my inventlon relates to providing a refrigerator car and the method of refrigerating the same.

According to present practice methods, the refrigerator cars, which are privately owned by the respective packing companies, are returned for reloading in a condition requiring them to be washed and cleaned. At the 10 owners plant, they are washed and cleaned thoroughly with hot Water and thereafter are taken to the icing plant,--often in a condition such that the heavy. insulated walls carry a relatively high temperature. It then becomes necessary that these cars be precooled. They are initially iced and then allowed to stand until a suiiiciently low temperature is attained for loading, at which time they are re-iced.

They are initially iced for pre-cooling aproximately twenty-four hours previous to loading. During this period it is often necessary to re-ice one or more times. In the initial icing, there are employed from seven thou sand (7,000) to ten thousand (10,000) pounds of crushed ice and from one thousand (1,000) to fifteen hundred (1,500) pounds of salt. Each re-icing usually employs from one thousand (1,000) to two thousand (2,000) pounds of ice and one hundred (100) to three hundred (300) ounds of salt. More specifically, a car may e initially iced on the morning of a given day, then re-iced in the late afternoon, and then on the morning of the following day loaded with dressed meat. Obviously, much of the pre-coolingis lost by reason of the necessity of leaving the door in open position during the loading of the meat. Then, when the loading is completed, the doors are closed and the-ice boxes re-iced, which involves another one thousand (1,000) to two thousand (2,000) pounds of ice and another one hundred (100) to three hundred (300) pounds of salt. The air that has been confined by the closing of the car doors is of a relatively high temperature. Much of the ice, loaded for refrigerating enroute, is thus necessarily consumed in removing this heat initially enclosed at the time of completing the loading. A considerable period of time must elapsebefore the ice in the ice boxes is able to reduce the temperature to the proper refrigerating point, during all of which time the meat has been exposed to a' higher temperature of air than it should be.

The present practice starts the car in 1924. Serial N0. 714,275.

transit with the temperature of the car above that of the meat, and when the temperature of the car reaches that of the meat, the ice has been reduced accordingly, i. a, the ice boxes have a much reduced supply to provide for refrigerating enroute than their full capacity,-a1l of which is directly'in contrast with the method provided by my invention, which starts the car in transit with a lower temperature than that of the meat, and with the ice undiminished in quantity, i. e., with a full charge of ice in the ice boxes, and this constitutes a primary object of my invention.

To maintain the refrigerating eficiency of the ice boxes, it is necessary every twentyfour hours to re-ice them. To this end, there are maintained at regular intervals ice-houses to provide this refrigerating. Obviously, the re-icing operation involves a long delay in the transit of the meat. All of this is in dlrect contrast with the method constituting my invention, which increases the eificiency of the refrigerating of the ice boxes by a quick pre-cooling. A primary object of my invention is to increase the efiiciency of the refrigerating of the ice boxes, so that the intervals between re-icing may be greatly increased.

The cost of icing and re-icing is very great. Icing a car at the plant costs about eighteen dollars ($18.00) including ice, salt and labor, and re-icing in proportion. The temperature of the meat is about thirty-four degrees (34) to thirty-six degrees (36) Fahrenheit, while the pre-cooling temperature as produced at present by said consumption of ice and allow ing the car to stand for twenty-four hours in closed condition after icing, is thirty degrees (30) to forty degrees (40) Fahrenheit. After loading the car and closing the same, the temperature becomes from forty degrees (40) to sixty degrees (60). A primary object of my invention is to eliminate the long delay incident to the pre-cooling and to greatly reduce the cost of preparing the car for loading. Moreover, it is to be noted that when the car is loaded with the meat, and the doors are closed. the warm air normally possesses a great deal of moisture, which condenses upon being cooled,all of which is highlyobjectionable to the best preservation of the meat. A primary object of my invention is to provide a refrigerating means and a method of refrigerating which will greatly reduce the moisture content in the confined air of the car and remove the moisture therecar starts in transit.

' the same being merely a preferred "The above mentioned general objects-of my invention, together with others inherent in the same, are attained by the process and device illustratedin the following drawings, exemplary invention,

reference form of embodiment of my throughout which drawings like numerals indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is a view in longitudinal cross section of the end portion of a refrigerator car embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in cross-section of the end portion of a refrigerator car embodying my invention; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the end portion of a refrigerator car embodying my invention.

In the end portion of a refrigerator car 4, having the usual ice boxes 5, 6, 7 and 8 with ventilators 9 at the top, well bottom 10 at the bottom, and openings 11 in the roof of the car, one or more, preferably a plurality, of vertically disposed cylinders 12 are provided adjacent the ice box. These cylinders 12 are open at the top and at the bottom are connected by a collecting means in the form of a pipe 13, having openings 14, 15, 16' and 17 at the ends of short pipes 18, 19, 20 and 21.

A refrigerating fluid supply pipe 22 extends across the car, having outlets on either side so that connection can be made with a refrigerating plant located at the station.' Said supply pipe 22 has spray nozzles 23 at the end of short pipe'connections 24, so that said nozzles are axially disposed in the upper end portions of the cylinders 12. Collector pipe 13 is provided with a drain pipe 25 at each end, so that connection may be made on either side of the car to said refrigerating plant, as in the case of supply pipe 22.

The mode of operation of a refrigerator car embodying my invent-ion and the method of refrigeration constituting my invention is as follows: The modeof operation of the refrigerating means embodying my invention, so far as the vertical tubes are concerned, has been fully set forth in my pending application Serial No. 481,456. Briefly, it is this: Refrigerating fluid is pumped into supply pipe 22, either by specially provided refrigerating means at the re-icing stations or by the refrigerating means at the packin houses, and the refrigerating fluid is sprayed for such period as may be necessary to precool the car to a temperature of twenty degrees (20) to thirty degrees (30) above zero Fahrenheit,such interval being from thirty to sixty minutes. Here is where the efficiency of the refrigerating means is important, and is in marked contrast to the present method of supplying seven thousand (7,000) to ten thousand (10,000) pounds of ice twenty-four hours beforeloading with the meat products and re-icing one or more times in the meantime, all for the purpose of precooling. The precooling temperature attained according to present methods is only thirty degrees (30) to forty degrees (40) above zero. The cost of such precooling by my refrigerating means is only a small fraction of the cost by the methods which now obtain, and, most important, about twentythree hours in time is saved, so that a smaller In the meantime, obviously the moisture content of the confined warm air has been eliminated during the cooling operation. The supply pipe 22 is thereupon disconnected from the refrigerating plant and closing cap 25 is screwed upon said pipe, and similarly, the withdrawal pipe is disconnected from the pipe leading to the plant and cap 26 is screwed upon it, so that the car is thus sealed tight so far as communication with the outside is concerned. Let it be noted that the sealing of he car is important, In the meantime, the i ceboxes have been supplied with ice to their full capacity, so that the car is ready for transit with-the ice boxes fully charged and with the air in the car relatively free of moisture content. The car is thus enabled to start enroute at a temperaure below that of the meat, care being taken not to freeze the meat.

Obviously, having the car start in transit in the condition just described operates to extend the period when it will need re-icing. At said re-icing stations there may be provided brine refrigerating connections and the car cooled to thirty to forty degrees and the ice boxes recharged. The last of the journey may not require such extensive provision for maintaining the car at a cooled temperature, and it may be suflicient merely to connect up the brine system and precool the car without recharging the ice boxes; In any event, it is manifest that the saving in time for shipment is greatly reduced and the cost of maintaining the refrigerating is reduced.

Obviously, changes maybe made in the form, dimensions and arrangement of the parts of my invention without departing from the principle thereof, the above setting forth only the preferred form of embodiment of my invention as well as the preferred method or process constituting my invention.

1' claim:

A. refrigerator car embodyingan ice box; air circulating and cooling devices adjacent said ice box, consisting of a plurality of up right cylinders having open top ends spaced from the top of the car and their lower ends connected to a collecting header, said header ders and discharged at the bottom of the car having air outlet connections opening above in cooled condition through said air outlet said header and a brine outlet connection, connections by the injector action of said jets. 1. and means for delivering a cold brine in the In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe 5 form of downwardly directed jets into each my name this ninth day of May, 1924.

cylinder, whereby Warm air from the top of the car is drawn into the tops of said cylin- ROBERT BRUCE MUSSER. 

